Book plate design for John Edwards: "The Tree of Knowledge"
Margaret Macdonald was one of "The Four," men and women who developed an influential variant of Art Nouveau known as "The Glasgow Style." Margaret and her sister Frances met Charles Rennie Mackintosh and James Herbert MacNair at the Glasgow School of Art in the 1890s. After Margaret's 1900 marriage to Mackintosh, she woul design decorative elements central to many of his interior designs. When she drew this bookplate In 1896, Margaret was still working in partnership with Frances. The graphite design centers on the elongated form of a nude woman whose hair merges with the tendrils of a fruit-bearing tree. Printed in 1896 as a book plate for John Edwards (a patron about whom nothing is known), the admired image was also published in the "Studio" magazine in 1897 and the Austrian Secession Movement periodical "Ver Sacrum" in 1901.
Artwork Details
- Title: Book plate design for John Edwards: "The Tree of Knowledge"
- Artist: Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (British, Tipton, near Wolverhampton 1864–1933 London)
- Date: 1896
- Medium: Graphite, pen and ink
- Dimensions: Image: 5 11/16 × 4 1/8 in. (14.5 × 10.5 cm)
Sheet: 8 3/8 × 10 9/16 in. (21.3 × 26.9 cm) - Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2020
- Object Number: 2021.16.1
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, London 1775–1851 London)
1843
1861
George Du Maurier (British, Paris 1834–1896 London)
1874
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (British, Brighton, Sussex 1872–1898 Menton)
1894
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (British, Brighton, Sussex 1872–1898 Menton)
1894
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.